Solar

My solar gallery dedicated to our star, the sun, centred in our solar system. Our very existence depends on the sun as the energy of the sunlight supports almost all life on Earth. Over 100 times wider than Earth and consisting of mostly (3/4) hydrogen with rest mostly helium. Less than 2% consists of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon, iron.

I am fascinated by the sun and equally challenged by capturing images . This in itself is no easy feat. To do so one requires special equipment in the form of a special solar filter for use on cameras or telescopes. I have constructed my own hand made filter for my camera lenses using Baader safety film, which is superb for solar observation. It is made for observing the sun with telescopes, binoculars, camera or video-lenses. This foil reduces the intensity of sunlight by 99.999% (neutral density 5.0). An A4 sheet of this stuff costs about £15 and making a mount to hold the film is very easy.

Until I can invest in a dedicated solar telescope all images in this gallery are captured with a camera and good quality zoom lens. Olympus E5 camera (some E3) combined with the superbly fast 90-250mm lens. In order to really push the focal length I attach x2 teleconverter (EC-20). This results in a solar spotting focal length of 1000mm (35mm equiv).

The solar filter is great for capturing sunspots but will not detail coronal holes or flare ejections. I will have to wait till my next purchase, to capture these :-)